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We are pleased to announce we are releasing the debut LP from Calgary outfit Viet Cong, featuring former Women members Matt Flegel and Michael Wallace. Earlier this year, Mexican Summer reissued their tour-only EP Cassette and now their debut self-titled LP is out January 20th via Jagjaguwar (Canada via Flemish Eye). Get a first taste of the new LP via the exhilarating “Continental Shelf” [via Pitchfork Premiere] above or on our Soundcloud or the official lyric video on YouTube.

Back in June we announced the co-release of Sinoia Caves‘ soundtrack to Panos Cosmatos‘ 2012 film, Beyond The Black Rainbow, on September 2nd with Death Waltz Records in Europe. This supposed “lost film” from the 1980s is inspired by obscure sci-fi movies and classic dystopian fiction. Watch the trailer for the movie here. You already heard the track “Forever Dilating Eye” and today Wondering Sound interviewed Jeremy Schmidt of Sinoia Caves about composing the soundtrack and also debuted a new video for the track featuring additional footage from Panos’ film. Read the interview and then watch the video above or on our YouTube channel.

The album will be available physically this fall in the United States including digitally world-wide on Jagjaguwar and physically in Europe in partnership with Death Waltz Records. Vinyl collectors should know the deluxe bundle from us includes clear vinyl and beautiful, glossy Stoughton jackets and a DVD of Beyond The Black Rainbow. That bundle is now available for pre-order via SC Distribution. The album is also available for pre-order on iTunes, Amazon, and your local indie record store.

Sinoia Caves is the ongoing project of Jeremy Schmidt, member of psych-rock pioneers and Jagjaguwar band Black Mountain.

Lia Ices gives us another peek at her upcoming album, Ices, with the song ‘Higher.’ This track joins previously released ‘Thousand Eyes’ on Lia’s followup to 2011’s acclaimed Grown Unknown. Produced by Benny Sagittarius [the production team of Lia and her brother Eliot] and Clams Casino, listen to the track above or here on Soundcloud / YouTube.

Lia explains how the track came to be:“My brother Eliot and I had a fireplace in our music studio, and during the long Hudson Valley Winter, we would start a fire in the morning and keep it going all day. There’s something strangely perfect and simple about making a fire in the place where you also are creative — writing music can be totally strange and nonlinear and spiritual, and taking moments away to stare into flames can feel like a total brain massage (heard once that an adult’s fascination with fire is a direct consequence of not having mastered it as a child.) So we were in our spaceship in the snow, stoking that fire highly caffeinated and ‘Higher’ kind of felt like it fell down from the sky.

Some songs feel like they take a long time to be born, but not this one. We started with the progression on those tropical keys, and after looping that Eliot started riffing on the electric guitar and came up with the main hook within the first 20 minutes. I knew right away there was something about that line; just the right blend of satisfying and strange. From there, we thought we might want to hear it on an Asian dulcimer sounding string instrument, so we found this Persian santur sample and put that in. It went on and on like this, each new sound inspiring the next. We were on our own strange psychic sibling trip.

On that next Saturday night (I only recorded vocals late on Saturday nights for this album) I wrote the vocal parts and melodies. I was feeling fearless. I kept following this genuine sense of feeling free and returned to a much more childlike state – not taking myself so seriously and reacting in the moment. I also wanted my lyrics and delivery to embody the playfulness we found in the music; I ended up having a lot of fun with how I conveyed my desire, femininity, and strength in this song. It was important for me to express all of the layers I was uncovering – to be simultaneously flirtatious/spiritual, childlike/powerful.

Fast forward 5 months later to our springtime glass box in the sky production studio at the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn. We had worked with Clams Casino on a few other tracks and were really vibing so we thought we’d see if there was anything else we could do with ‘Higher’. We brought up our demo which had some basic beats, but Clams came up with the big tom drum patterns you hear during the verses, the massive subs, and some rad alternate beats in the chorus. Our process with him had the same easy environment Eliot and I had established, and he dove right in — there was no pressure or expectation of what should or shouldn’t be in there, we just had to love it. I remember dancing around our hotel room during that session with Clams, so excited that we could make music I wanted to dance to.”

Jagjaguwar is thrilled to announce the co-release of Sinoia Caves‘ soundtrack to Panos Cosmatos‘ 2012 film, Beyond The Black Rainbow, on September 2nd. This supposed “lost film” from the 1980s is inspired by obscure sci-fi movies and classic dystopian fiction. Watch the trailer for the movie here. The album will be available in the United States and digitally world-wide on Jagjaguwar and physically in Europe in partnership with Death Waltz Records.

Sinoia Caves is the ongoing project of Jeremy Schmidt, member of psych-rock pioneers and Jagjaguwar band Black Mountain .

Vinyl collectors should know the deluxe bundle includes clear vinyl and beautiful, glossy Stoughton jackets and a DVD of Beyond The Black Rainbow. The bundle is now is available for pre-order via SC Distribution. The album is also available for pre-order on iTunes, Amazon, and your local indie retailer.

Also this morning, The 405 just published an interview with Sharon on the new album that you can read here.

Pre-order Sharon’s new album via SC Distribution for a limited bundle including special edition clear vinyl in litho-wrap gatefold jacket and CD in 6 panel cardboard wallet, Taking Chances b/w Taking Chances (demo) limited edition 7″, a signed 5×7″ print of album cover photo by Sharon, and a 17×22″ poster. The album is also available on Amazon, iTunes, and your local record store.

Click read more to see upcoming tour dates in June from New York to Chicago including an appearance at this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival.Read the rest of this entry »